Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-06-21
SS:Ff e
N.HiStorzr, Of: Hd3ehture
By ]. RIDER HAeGARD.

"Ay, tho sleep shall roll awny, and tn
voices shall be heard, when down the com
pleted chain, whereof our each existence Is
link, the lightning of the Spirit hath passed Il
work out the purpose Of our being; quicken
ing and fusing those separated days of life
and shipping them to a staff wherein we may
safely lean as we wend to our appointed fate
therefore, have no fear, Kallikrates, when
thou--living, and but lately born--shall look
upon thine own departed self who breathed
aud died so long ago | do but turn one page
in thy Book of Being, and show thee what is
writ thereon.
'Beholdl"
With sudden motion she drew the shroud
from the cold form, and let the lamplight
play upon it, looked, and then shrunk back
terrified, since, say what she might in expla-
nation, the sight was nm uncanny one-for
her explanations were beyond the grasp OF
onr finite minds, and when they were separ-
at,sl from the mists of vngue esoteric philoso-
ply, and brought into conflict with the cold
md horiifying fact. didnot do much to break
its force For there, stretched upon the stone
liier before us. robed in white and perfectly
preserved, was what appeared to he the body
at LEO vincey. ] stared from Leo, stumbling
there alive, TO Leo lying there dead, and could
SEQ no difference, except perhaps, that the
body on the bier looked older. Feature for
fcatnIn they were the same, even down TO the
crop Of little golden curls, which was Leo's
most uncommon beauty. 1t even seemed 10
me, as looked. that the expression of the
henil mans face resembled thnt which had
sometimes seen upon Leo's when he was
plunged into profound sleep. can only sum
mp the closeness Of the resemblance by saying
that never saw twins 50 exactly similar as
that dead and living pair.
turned to see what effect was produced
upon Leo by the sight OF his dead self, and
found it to he one Of partial stupefaction.
He stood for two or three minutes staring
and said nothing, and when at last he spoke
it was only to calculate:
"Cover it up, and take me away
"Nay, wnit," said Ayesha, who, standing
with the lamp raised above her head, flooding
with its light her own rich beauty and the
cold wonder of the death clothed form upon
the bier. looked more like an inspired Sybil
than woman as she rolled out her majestic
sentences with grandeur and freedom of
utterance to which am, alas, quite unable to
do justice
"Wait would show thee something, that
no title of my crime may be hidden from
thee Do thou, o, Holly, open the garment
on the breast of the dead Kallikrates, for per-
chance my lord may fear to touch himself"
obeyed with trembling hands. 1t seemed
a dissertation of an unhallowed thing to
touch that sleeping image of the live man by
my side. Presently his broad chest was bare,
and there upon it, right over the heart, was
wound, evidently inflicted with spear
"Thou seest, Kallikrates,n she said "Be-
hold, it wns who slew thee In the place of
life gave thee death slew thee because Of
the Egyptian Amenartas, whom thou didst
love; for by her arts sho held thy heart, and
her could not Stay as but now / slew the
woman, for she was too strong for me. In
my haste and bitter anger / slew thee, and
now for all these days have l lamented thee,
and waited for thy coming. And thou hast
come and none can stand between thee and
me. and of a truth now for death will give
thee life life eternal, for that none can
give, but life and youth shall endure for
thousands and thousands Of years, and with
it pomp and power and wealth, and all things
that are good and beautiful, such as have
been 10 no man before thee, nor shall be to
any man who comes after. And now one
thing more, and thou shalt rest and mako
ready for tho day of thy new birth. Thou
seest this body which was thine own. For all
these centuries 1t hath been my comfort and
my companion, but now need It no more,
for have thy living presence, and 1t can but
serve to stir up memories Of that which had
fain forge.. let it therefore go back to the
dust from which kept 1t.
"Beholdl have prepared against this
happy hourp and going to the other shelf.
or stone ledge, which, she said, had served her
for bed, she took from it large vitrified
double handled vase, the mouth of which was
tied up with bladder. This she loosed, and
then, having bent down and gently kissed the
white forehead OF the dead man, she undid
tie vase, and sprinkled its contents carefully
over the FORM taking, / observed, the great
est precautions against any drop OF them
touching US or herself, and then poured out
what remained of the liquid upon the chest
and head. Instantly q dense vapor arose,
and the cave was filled with choking fumes
that prevented us from seeing anything while
the deadly acid for ! presume it was some
tremendous preparation of that sort did its
work. From the spot where the body lay
came fierce fzzing and cracking sound,
which ceased, however, before the fumes had
cleared away. AT last they were all gone
except little cloud, which still hung over
the corpse. In couple of minutes moro
this, too, had vanished, and wonderful as it
may seem, 1t is fact that on the stone bench
that had supported the mortal remains of the
ancient KallilIrates forso many centuries there
was now nothing to be seen but few hand
fuls OF smoking white powder. The acid had
utterly destroyed the body, and even in
places eaten into the stone. Ayesha stopped
down, and taking handful OF this powder in
her grasp threw it into the air, saying al the
Same timo, IN voice of calm solennity:
AItlcf To duct met ~, fba
dend to the dead Kallkrates is dead, and Is
born againp
The ashes foated .nolselessly to the rocky
floor, and we stood in awed silence ind
watched them fall, too overcome for words
Nov leave me, she said, Hand sleep il We
may. must watch and think, Tor io-Inor-
row night we go hence, and the time Is long
since trpd the path that we must follow"
Accordingly we bowed and left her.
AS we passed to our own apartment |
peeped into Jobs sleeping place TO see how he
Jared, for he bad gone away just before our
Interview, with the murdered Ustane, quite
prostfnted by the terroIs OF the Amahagger
festivity. He was sleeping soundly, good, |
honest fellow that he was, and / rejolced TO |
think that his nerves, which, like those of |
most uneducated people, were far from |
strong, had been spared the closing scenes of |
that dreadful day. Then we entered our
own chamber, and here at last poor Leo, |
zen image Of his living self, had been in
state not far removed from stupefaction,
burst out into a torrent Of grief. Now that
be was no longer In the presence Of the
dreaded She, his sense Of the awfulness Of all
that had happened, and more especially of
the wicked murder of Ustane, who was bound
10 him by ties so close, broke upon him like
storm and lashed him into an agony of re-
morse and terror which was painful to wit
ness he cursed hinIself-he cursed the hour
when we had first seen the writing on tho
.herd, which was being so mystoriously yeri-
he'd, and bitterly he cursed his own weakness,
Ayesha he dared not curse; who dared speak
evii OF such woman, whose consciousness
Tor aught we knew was watching US ut this
very momenti
What am to do, old fellowip he groaned,
resting his head against my shoulder in the
Of his grief Il let her be killed.
rot that | could help that, but within five
minutes was kissing her murderess over her
,0dy. l am adegraded brute. but ] cannot